Background

With assets of ú3.26 billion and members in the region of 336,000, Norwich and Peterborough Building Society (N&P) is the 14th largest building society in the U.K. It employs over 1,000 people: 450 at its principal office and contact centre and approximately 560 employees at its 50 strong branch network and within its group companies.

N&P strives to be the "best independent regional building society in the UK by remaining mutual and providing a quality service to its customers". In 2004, it was voted "Best Building Society" in two separate consumer awards (Mortgage and Mortgage Advisor & Home Buyer magazines).

It is committed to translating its values of modernism and progressiveness in every aspect of its business life, right through to its IT solutions.

The need

In today's corporate networks, it is essential that systems are protected against viruses, worms and Trojans, all of which can be infiltrated through USB and FireWire ports. Not only that but it is essential that networks are protected from internal security breaches; the risk of which has increased as a result of 'plug and play' devices which can transfer data at lightning speed.

As part of its security software review, N&P needed a high quality solution that would work with its Microsoft Windows 2000 Active Directory back office and support desktop clients running Windows XP. The objective was to secure the desktop, reduce the risk of these debilitating virus infections and ensure the protection of its confidential data.

The solution

DeviceLock« provides system administrators control over the accessing of certain devices on a local computer. It also protects networks by locking unauthorised user access to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB, FireWire, CD-Roms, floppy drives, serial and parallel ports and many other plug and play devices.

Paul Randle, Microsoft's Windows Client Product Manager testifies: "Microsoft is committed to helping both its business and home user customers get and stay secure. Working with companies such as SmartLine Inc, which promotes proactive network security through its DeviceLock product, means we are helping to spread the message beyond pure AV and firewall security, and extend it to USB and other Plug and Play devices, as well as FireWire, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and CD-Roms."

The IT team found DeviceLock« easy to install, using Microsoft SMS to remotely install at head office, at branch workstations and servers. With the latest DeviceLock« upgrade, the team will be able to simply deploy DeviceLock« through the Active Directory.

N&P has seen the benefits of using DeviceLock«. One example is in the number of calls to the helpdesk from employees requesting the resolving of issues with plug-ins via USB ports. As Mr. Matthewman comments, "users are now unable to access devices without our consent. Without DeviceLock we would not have been able to monitor in such a way and could have been at danger of being infected by viruses and Trojans via a number of unknown devices."

Mr. Matthewman also found DeviceLock« to be extremely cost-effective and user-friendly, "licence costs were favourable and in addition, the deployment and administration has been straightforward - upgrades have been installed without any problems. We are very satisfied with DeviceLock."